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 The fifth flying prototype of the Sukhoi’s prospective fifth-generation fighter (PAK FA, T-50) made its maiden flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur at the KnAAZ aircraft plant of the Sukhoi company on 27 October 2013. The plane was piloted by the 1st class test pilot Roman Kondratyev. The fighter aircraft spent 50 minutes in the air and landed safely on the factory airfield runway. The test flight was a success and in full accordance with the flight plan. The stability of the aircraft and the powerplant were tested during the flight. The aircraft performed well in all phases of the planned flight program. The pilot confirmed reliability of all systems and equipment.
Upon completing the test flights programme in Komsomolsk-on-Amur the aircraft will be ferried to Zhukovsky near Moscow where the first four T-50 flying prototypes are now being under flight tests. Two more planes are involved in ground tests also – one as a complex ground stand and the other for static tests.
As many as three T-50 prototypes took part in the recent MAKS 2013 air show. Over the past two years since the previous air show in Zhukovsky, the PAK FA programme has made good progress: two more prototypes joined the flight tests (T-50-3 in late 2011 and T-50-4 in late 2012). Using these two prototypes, the designers have begun to test the AESA radar and several other sophisticated avionics systems, conducted mid-air refuelling experiments, expanded the fighter’s flight envelope and been gradually learning the rope in ever more advanced flight operating modes. This spring T-50 was flown by the first military pilot, with the PAK FA prototypes due to start the official trials at the Defence Ministry’s testing facility
in Akhtubinsk.
Three T-50s flew as part of the flight programme of MAKS 2013, flown as a troika by Sukhoi test pilots Sergei Bogdan, Roman Kondratyev and Sergei Chernov. In addition, Sukhoi’s chief test pilot Hero of Russia Sergei Bogdan performed solo aerobatics on a T-50.
A number of advanced avionics systems designed for the PAK FA were unveiled at the stands of the air show. For instance, Tikhomirov-NIIP displayed an X-band sidelooking AESA in UAC’s pavilion (the company unveiled the PAK FA-intended forward-looking X-band AESA at the previous air show). In the pavilion of the Rostec corporation, the stand of the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant (a subsidiary of the Shvabe holding) featured a number of subsystems of the integrated optronic suite being developed for the PAK FA.
By early November, more than 350 flights were carried out under the flight test programme on five T-50 prototypes.
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